Bookworm Beat 8/20/2018 — the Leftist double standards edition

Today’s tales of Lefty craziness have as a common denominator the double standards that infect every issue they touch, especially around Trump and Brennan.

It’s only sexual assault when Trump muses about it hypothetically. I know you remember the Access Hollywood tape in which Trump said, with complete accuracy, that if you’re a famous person, women will willingly let you grab their genitals. Maybe he was speaking from personal experience; maybe he was reflecting Bill Clinton’s experience. We don’t know and we can’t know. What we do know is that, for making this completely accurate, albeit hypothetical, statement in the context of locker room talk, Trump was labeled a rapist and sexual assaulter.

At the time, alleged comedian Chelsea Handler, a stalwart Hillary supporter, had this to say: “Any man who still supports DONALD trump has no respect for women. Hillary is training by having a drunk ape throw apples at her head.” She even made a little incest joke: “My father has always respected women’s pussies. I for one, should know.” -Ivanka Trump”

In turns out — and I know you’ll be surprised to hear this — that the same Chelsea Handler believes that the standard is quite different when you’re a Leftist, in which case grabbing people by the genitals is just another type of handshake:

In defending Mr. Franken against numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, Ms. Handler admitted during an interview with Buzzfeed News that she’s grabbed people’s genitals “many times” in photographs before and didn’t think that should be considered sexual assault.

“I don’t want to diminish anyone’s legitimate claim of feeling like they’ve been assaulted, because that’s your feeling,” she said. “But I think there is a very big difference of a man putting his arm around you — he’s a comedian, I’ve touched people’s breasts and genitals I can’t imagine how many times in photos. That doesn’t excuse it, but that’s something, that’s not rape. That’s not sexual assault, and it’s not repeated behavior over and over again.”

Leftist think: “It’s always innocent when we do it.”

And then there’s this pictorial reminder of another example of hypocrisy about a Leftist who engages in sexual and physical assault:

If Leftists didn’t have double standards, they wouldn’t have any standards at all.

Speaking of double standards…. Someone put together a nice poster about the treatment meted out to Paul Manafort, a Trump supporter, and Al Sharpton, a race hustling illiterate and Obama/Hillary supporter:

More from the world of double standards. Did you hear about the lesbian professor being sued for sexually harassing a gay graduate student? Well, if you didn’t, you’re hearing it now. She’s old and lesbian; he’s young and gay. She harassed him relentlessly in sexual terms:

The Title IX world turned upside down when Avital Ronell, a “world renowned” lesbian New York University professor, was “found responsible” for ongoing physical and verbal sexual harassment of Nimrod Reitman, her male graduate student. Reitman, who identifies as gay and is now married to a man, claims that Ronell, age 66, refused to work with him unless he allowed her to kiss and grope him repeatedly, and sleep with him. For evidence, Reitman produced text messages and emails in which Ronell called him her “c**k-er spaniel” and her “most adored one.”

But here’s the really cute part — feminists of the Chelsea Handler ilk are saying it’s not sexual harassment when women do it. Really. That’s what they’re saying:

Rather than being told by feminist defenders of Title IX that “victims of sexual assault never lie,” and that we should never blame the victims of sexual assault or harassment, these same feminist advocates now are calling this male victim a liar. In fact, Ronell’s feminist supporters—led by feminist icon Judith Butler—dismissed Reitman’s allegations in an open letter of protest claiming that “the allegations against her [Ronell] do not constitute actual evidence, but rather support the view that malicious intention has animated and sustained this legal nightmare.”

We’re seeing the same double standard with Asia Argento, who turns out to have settled out of court for statutory rape committed with a male co-star much younger than she is. Suddenly Rose “You have to believe the victim” McGowan has found a new standard, and it’s a double one:

None of us know the truth of the situation and I’m sure more will be revealed. Be gentle.

I can’t figure out if this father, who at least raises his daughter with energy and laughter, alongside a bit of felonious conduct, is better or worse than Roy Scranton. My friend Patrick O’Hannigan wrote a luminous essay about Scranton’s apocalyptic view of the world and the hopelessness with which he greets his new baby daughter. That’s going to be one seriously unhappy household for a little girl.

And then there are the Leftists who are just plain crazy. Have you seen the video of CNN’s Philip Mudd, who rejoices in the name of “national security analyst,” going off when Paris Dennard, a Trump supporter, challenges the need for former government people to keep their security in perpetuity? It’s must-see TV for it reveals yet another unstable person who needs his security clearance revoked. Or, to put it another way, you’re witnessing a rabid Swamp rat terrified of losing his taxpayer-funded sinecure:

John Brennan totally deserved to lose his security clearance. Mike McDaniel is an exceptionally clear thinker and an even more exceptionally good writer. No wonder, then, that his analysis of the Leftist kerfuffle about John Brennan’s yanked security clearance perfectly explains why Democrat politicians, the media, and their fellow travelers are all talking out of their ears when they screech about the wrong done Brennan. A sample:

Part of the reason past CIA directors, and others, have routinely retained security clearances is they have done nothing to subvert the lawfully elected President and his administration. They have behaved responsibly, and tended to live quiet, low profile lives, using their knowledge and expertise for the benefit of America, often advising the presidents that followed them. Why would Mr. Trump wish advice from arguably the most partisan, corrupt and hostile CIA Director in history, a man who played a large role in trying to keep Mr. Trump out of the White House, and who continues to do everything he can to depose him?

Brennan has allied himself with the media, which complains Mr. Trump’s accurate criticism of them heralds the destruction of the First Amendment and democracy. They fail to see the irony of their position as they broadcast and publish, unimpeded and unpunished, other than Americans finally seeing them for the dishonest Democrat operatives they are. Which is more dangerous to our representative republic: Mr. Trump criticizing the media and John Brennan, or the media and John Brennan trying to overturn a free and fair presidential election?

Wrapped up in the righteousness of his own hysteria, Brennan is threatening to sue and Trump, who has been involved in more lawsuits than I have years on this earth, has the perfect response:

I hope John Brennan, the worst CIA Director in our country’s history, brings a lawsuit. It will then be very easy to get all of his records, texts, emails and documents to show not only the poor job he did, but how he was involved with the Mueller Rigged Witch Hunt. He won’t sue!

Security clearances get pulled routinely when the holder no longer needs access because the fewer people with access, the safer the info is – pretty basic stuff. But hey, we’ll take the chance on classified info spilling if it means elite jerks can get to bask in the warm light of being In The Know. It’s not like any of our betters ever got caught up in classified info shenanigans. Not Felonia Milhous von Pantsuit. Not that Towering Doofus James Comey. Not David Petreaus. And not his mistress.

Oh, wait – all of them totally did. But, of course, these elite malefactors are all in jail, because you or I would be if we did what they did. Aren’t they?

Oh, right. They aren’t. They’re special. More professional courtesy. More special rules for special people.

On the same topic, please take the time to read what Gold Star parents of a Navy SEAL have to say about John Brennan. It’s not pretty.

Trump is not silencing Brennan. In sane world, when the government silences people, it kills them, tortures them, throws them into prison, or maybe sends them into exile or a gulag. Only in Leftist land are people being silenced when the President calls them on their lies (and that’s all he does) or when the President takes security clearances from people who will never be of use to and, in fact, are completely, and dangerously, hostile to the current administration. Once again, I’m with Trump.

Eli Lake, though, thinks Trump’s thinking about Brennan is even more sophisticated than removing a special privilege from a whacked-out, angry loon:

Far from trying to silence Brennan, Trump is elevating him. He wants to make Brennan the face of the so-called resistance. This is the Trump playbook. Why do you think he keeps tweeting about Maxine Waters? He is a man who approaches politics like professional wrestling, happy to play the villain if it energizes his base. And for Trump, Brennan is a perfect adversary.

An interesting theory and one that Lake develops very soundly.

Trump foe concedes there’s no there there. Here’s a tweet from Juan Williams:

Corruption is more than old-fashioned political graft. The far more serious crime is Trump’s corruption of our collective civic soul as Americans. There is the normalization of cynicism, paranoia, hatred of immigrants, racism, lying and stealing. https://t.co/rdbWS0fF29

Let me translate: The Left is ceding that, when using the term “corrupt” as traditionally understood, Trump isn’t corrupt at all. All “corrupt” means in their modern lexicon is “we don’t like Trump’s politics.”

This is a disgusting level of “journalistic” discourse.

Are San Francisco’s poopy streets going to be Kamala’sundoing? Sen. Kamala Harris is a not-very-bright young woman who earned her political position by having an affair with the much older, and then very married, Willie Brown (who is one of the smartest people ever in American politics). He’s still her mentor, but even his skills may not help her in 2020, given the shape San Francisco is in:

That being said, if you’re thinking about betting the farm on Sen. Harris, you better be prepared to part ways with the chickens because San Francisco’s former district attorney has one big glaring Achilles Heel — the lawless cesspool that is the City by the Bay.

While many of us in California are well aware that the soft-on-crime policies that Harris helped pass while serving as the district attorney of San Francisco and California attorney general directly contributed to the complete breakdown of one of America’s most beautiful cities, people outside of California are just finding out.

In the last couple of months, the following headlines have appeared on the widely influential Drudge Report website, “San Francisco ‘Poop Patrol’ to Rid Sidewalks of Human Feces,” “San Francisco Logs 16,000 Feces Complaints in Week,” and “‘Terrified’ San Francisco Tourists Shocked by Aggressive Vagrants, Discarded Needles, Dead Bodies.”

Scott Adams nails the politics of fear. Danny Lemieux sent me a link to a Scott Adams video that I missed when it came out early in July. He talks about the politics of fear and how differently Trump and the Left use it:

Workers will finally be bringing home the bacon — salaries are about to break out of a decade-long slump.

US professionals nationwide will soon be taking home their biggest paychecks, as the tightening labor market and economic recovery will spur companies to confidently raise salaries and pay bigger bonuses, according to a new study by Willis Towers Watson Data Services.

“Employers tend to pay more when they feel confident about the future,” said Murray Gunn, an analyst at Elliott Wave International. “This survey certainly reflects an ebullient mood among business leaders.”

Employers haven’t paid an increase like this since 2008, when the financial crisis torpedoed company coffers.

Wasn’t it Bill Clinton’s advisor, James Carville, who constantly reminded us “It’s the economy, stupid?”

Obama had eight years and he couldn’t get it right. Instead, he lectured us to accept that America’s economy would be stagnant in perpetuity. That, of course, is how communists think, because they really don’t understand how a free market economy works.

Greenies have a goal and it’s not about you. Viv Forbes, writing about Australia, notes that the “Green Revolution” is antithetical to everything Australians need to survive, let alone thrive. Of course, that’s the Leftist goal: to return the world to a Hobbesian premodern time in which life is short, ugly, and brutish, all as an endless pagan sacrifice to Mother Gaia.

The one good thing about greenies, though, is they’ve finally figured out a watering can that you can pee into in comfort, all for your garden’s good.

Leftists keep looking in the mirror and claiming they see ugly conservatives. MSNBC’s John Heilemann announced on Morning Joe that Trump supporters are crazed murderers:

I’m virtually certain if it was a Donald Trump-related question [on a poll] you’d get like 10 percent that would be like, ‘Donald Trump has the power to do whatever he wants, including kill my parents.’

Okay, 10%, right? Well, think about this: We’ve seen socialized medicine come apart in Europe now that American gold is no longer propping up the European Cold War economy. What this has meant is that only people who could conceivably benefit society get medical care. If you’re too old, or too mentally ill, or have a disease likely to have a bad outcome no matter what, or you’re just too costly, you’re either denied treatment or you’re encouraged to off yourself. In other words, death panels.

Now think about the fact that probably 100% of Democrats enthusiastically endorse socialized medicine, healthcare rationing, and euthanasia. In other words, 100% of Obama and Hillary supporters would joyfully hand over to the government the power to kill their parents.

Mr. Heilemann, next time you look in the mirror, that ugly visage staring back at you is . . . you.

Books by friends. I mentioned my friend Mike McDaniel, above. You should know that he and a co-author who writes under the nom de plume “Sentinel” have written a book about the way in which Las Vegas police killed Erik Scott, a West Point grad, who was shopping in a big box store while carrying a legal weapon. The book is called License to Kill: The Murder of Erik Scottand, as is true for anything Mike writes, it’s lucid and well-researched. I’m reading it now, although the going is tough, not because of the writing which is wonderful, but simply because the core content is so very painful. Scott should never have died and most certainly not at law enforcement’s hands.

While I’m on the subject of friends who are superior writers, I’d like to remind you to check out Ray Zacek’s Amazon page. His work is endlessly enjoyable. Depending on the book (all of which are reasonably priced at less than the cost of a cup of quality coffee), what he writes is funny, haunting, or scary, but always imaginative and beautifully written.

Another Hollywood Golden Ager passes. I commented the other day to Mr. Bookworm that, with the exception of Paddington 2, the modern entertainment world produces nothing that can be described as “charming.” Everything is vulgar or violent.

But once upon a time, Hollywood did produce charming stuff. Lots of it was silly to the point of idiocy, but there is nothing today to equal, say, Singing in the Rain or The Philadelphia Story, or any of another 100 classic Hollywood musicals, romances, or comedies.

And word just came out that Miriam Nelson, a dancer and choreographer during Hollywood’s frequently charming Golden Age has passed away at 98:

Due to a change in Social Security regulations that took place on April 30th 2016, you can now add as much as a potential $570 to your monthly benefits… Just by contacting the SS administration and saying ONE simple word.

Bookworm came late to conservativism but embraced it with passion. She's been blogging since 2004 at Bookworm Room about anything that captures her fancy -- and that's usually politics. Her blog's motto is "Conservatives deal with facts and reach conclusions; liberals have conclusions and sell them as facts."

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